i love to cook food...shoot food. i love to play with food and i love to eat food...soooo, here are my comments, thoughts, recipes and pics of foods i come across. it might be on my plate, your plate, someone elses plate or my dream plate...

Saturday, October 8, 2011

just about anything can be made into a terrine. usually you find the good ones in specialty stores or just see them out for special occasions, but once you have made one yourself, i'm sure you'll enjoy a nice beautiful terrine more often. sometimes i'll have one in the fridge to nosh on through the week. a little slice can turn an uneventful weekday into at least something a little gourmet...you know what i'm talking about...add a little fancy into your diet and everything looks better.

first, start with an idea of which type you want...hot or cold, meat or veggie, egg base or aspic...

but...for the veggie lovers the green terrine was a hit..(i DID slip that little layer if ham in). as i look back i think i bit off a little more than i could chew with this "veggie terrine idea"...i had this visual of a fabulous layered terrine one day so i went out and bought loads of greens, came home to realize the idea would be a little more effort than expected. being the perfectionist that i think i am, i had the bright idea that if i blanched and shocked EACH LEAF it might retain the beautiful green color rather than that semi grey color collards can get when cooked...out came the pots and the bowls and the ice and the paper towels. after washing each leaf carefully...now i have to touch and coddle each leaf again?!...me and my "bright ideas"

this was definitely a hands on, made with love terrine...more like a work of art rather than a simple dish of collard greens.

THE RECIPE...?....or INSTRUCTIONS to...

A MEAN GREEN COLLARD TERRINE

there really isn't much of a recipe...more like instructions of how to.

if you really have some questions about this terrine please leave a comment and i'll help out. otherwise here is my attempt at writing out the recipe for this particular terrine...every terrine will come out different and mid way through the building you might want to add a different layer. i happen to have some sliced ham in the fridge so i slipped a few slices in. i recommend something with a little more flavor...maybe a little prosciutto or black forest ham. i find that you need to slightly over season terrines because they just soak it up...choose your ingredients wisely and definitely season as you go along.

1 - 2 cups good stock made from pig's trotters or chicken feet...something that will be very gelatinous

make your stock...i always keep some rich hearty stock in my fridge. it has to be made from trotters or tails or chicken feet..(something that creates a gelatinous broth when chilled). not only will this give the terrine some good "glue", but it will have more flavor than using a gelatin or aspic base.

blanch and shock each vegetable separately...this will keep the nice deep green color.

if using a collard layer...keep your greens flat for easier layering and nicer presentation.

next i lined the glass loaf dish with a layer of collard leaves. let them hang over the sides as you build the inside of the terrine.

now you just start layering...make thick enough layers so you can tell what it is, but just do whatever you want with the vegetables you have chosen. i happen to have some ham in the fridge so i threw a layer of that in...i think it should have been something else, but it worked.

once you're done with the inside, pour a little broth over the top. then take the over-hanging leaves and cover the top. lightly press down to compact everything...there might be some over-spill of broth, so be ready for that...

cut a piece of parchment to cover the top and then cover with foil.

bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes

IMPORTANT NOTE...i used a bain marie,so the outside wouldn't get browned.

preheat your oven and your bain marie vessel of choice. make sure your water is hot going into the bath.

NOTE...the timing depends on how much you have packed in there, how much liquid, how done you like your veggies and so on and so on...i think mine was 30-40 minutes. i looked for little bubbles boiling on the sides of the glass dish and took it out.

let this cool to room temp and refrigerate.

to remove you'll need to run a flat thin blade around the edges...or dunk in some hot water to loosen.

slice and serve at room temp or slightly warmed as a side. i bet a nice poached egg would really be delicious with this and some crumble prosciutto over top

thanks for making it to the end and, again...please leave a comment with any questions

My name is Rebecca and I'm one of the Editors at HuffPost Taste. I'm working on a roundup of some of our favorite collard green recipes, and would love to feature a photo from this amazing post, pending your permission. We'll link back to your original post for the recipe.

Would you mind just letting me know whether you'd like us to credit the photo to your name or your blog's name? I'm at rebecca(dot)orchant(at)huffingtonpost.com.

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About Me

ahhh...welcome to my little world of flavors. you'll see that my food obsessions vary from one extreme to the other. from nice safe little shortbreads and blondies to spicy chicken feet and BBQ pigs tails. I hope you enjoy the spectrum of goodies and follow Ruby and i on our our culinary trip to who knows where...my thought is...if it looks good, it'll taste even better AND IF IT LOOKS UGLY, I HAVE TO TRY IT !!!

lil' Ruby

*DISCLAIMER

Ruby is responsible for all posts while i am busy in the kitchen and behind the camera. As we all know, one with four legs has no opposable thumbs. She leans towards the hunt and peck method. So please we ask that you excuse any unintentional grammatical errors.